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This paper investigates the combined effect of internal environmental management (IEM) and green human resource management (GHRM) on corporate reputation (CR), environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP). The paper further explores the indirect effects of CR and EP between the direct paths.

Data are garnered from 164 firms from three industries in Ghana. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is the methodological technique used to test the hypothesized relationships.

The result demonstrates that unlike IEM which has a significant effect on FP when implemented in isolation, GHRM does not have a significant effect on FP. However, the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM can provide better results in terms of improved CR, enhanced EP and significant FP improvement. CR and EP were further found to mediate the relationship between the direct paths.

The results suggest that the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM is critical for firms that seek to enjoy superior reputation, enhance their environmental sustainability and achieve financial gains. Consequently, managers are strongly encouraged to create a sustainable and vibrant company via significant and rational investment in green initiatives like IEM and GHRM.

This study happens to be one of the first to develop a research model that investigates the joint effect of IEM and GHRM within the context of CR, environmental sustainability and FP.

This study aims to investigate the intervening role of lean management (LM) in the direct relationships between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance.

Data for the study is carefully garnered from 217 managers in Ghanaian small- and medium-sized enterprises. The methodological technique used to validate all hypothesized relationships is partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The empirical results of the study suggest that although green market orientation has a positive impact on green value-based innovation, the effect is not significant. However, the results confirm that green market orientation has a significant positive impact on green reputation and enterprise social performance. The results further suggest that LM has a significant positive impact on green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance. The mediation analysis provides empirical evidence to suggest that LM fully mediates the relationship between green market orientation and green value-based innovation. Lastly, the results of the mediation analysis suggest that LM plays a complementary partial mediation role between green market orientation, green reputation and enterprise social performance.

Despite the flourishing research on green market orientation in marketing management and environmental literature, no study has been carried out to explore the intervening role of LM in the relationships between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance. Thus, considering LM as a missing link between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance is a noteworthy research gap which this study fills.

The compounding impacts of climate change has mobilised unstinting endeavours of researchers, ecologists and corporate leaders to explore new ways for the logistics industry to manage environmental problems, improve social outcomes and gain competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediation roles of inbound green logistics practices and outbound green logistics practices between eco-market orientation, green value competitiveness and social sustainability.

By employing explanatory research design, with questionnaire-based survey, data for the study was collected from Ghanaian logistics firms. The data is analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that eco-market orientation has a significant positive impact on green value competitiveness. However, eco-market orientation was found to have an insignificant impact on social sustainability. The results further confirmed the notion that eco-market orientation substantially strengthens the implementation of inbound green logistics practices and outbound green logistics practices. Specifically, the mediation analysis confirmed that inbound green logistics practices and outbound green logistics practices serve as indirect mechanisms through which eco-market orientation significantly influences green value competitiveness and social sustainability.

Compared to previous literature, this is a pioneer study that develops an explanatory research framework under the lenses of the natural resource-based theory, stakeholder theory and resource advantage theory in illuminating how inbound green logistics practices and outbound green logistics practices act as mediation mechanisms between eco-market orientation and green value competitiveness and eco-market orientation and social sustainability.

The study explores the role of green human capital in the implementation of green logistics practices to build green competitiveness and achieve improved social performance and financial performance.

This study employs structured questionnaires to gather data from 152 managers from manufacturing small and medium enterprises in Ghana. The data are analyzed and the hypotheses are tested using the partial least square structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that green human capital does have significant influence on financial performance. However, green human capital does not have significant influence on social performance and green competitiveness. Besides, green logistics practices significantly improve social performance, financial performance and green competitiveness. Green logistics practices mediate the relationship between green human capital and green competitiveness, social performance and financial performance. Hence, green human capital influences the successful implementation of green logistics practices, which results in building stronger green competitiveness and better social and financial performances.

This paper is among the dearth of studies that examine the role of green human capital in the implementation of sustainable supply chain practices. This study pioneers the exploration of the role of green human capital in the implementation of green logistics practices to improve social performance, financial performance and green competitiveness among manufacturing SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Besides, the study's findings expand literature by providing new insights into the effect between green logistics practices, financial performance, social performance and green competitiveness from Ghanaian SMEs.

This study draws insight from the leader-member exchange theory to examine the link between supply chain ethical leadership and circular supply chain practices. This study further draws on the contingent theory to explore the interactive effect of environmental orientation and circular supply chain practices on corporate sustainability performance.

This study uses a quantitative research approach where partial least square structural equation modelling (SMART PLS) is used to analyse survey data gathered from 122 managers of small and medium enterprises in Ghana.

This study reports that there is a significant positive relationship between ethical supply chain leadership and circular supply chain practices. The findings further reveal that internal environmental orientation and external environmental orientation moderate the relationship between circular supply chain practices and corporate sustainability performance.

This study sheds light on ethical supply chain leadership's influence on circular supply chain practices. The study also offers an empirical argument to explain contradictory relationships between circular supply chain practices and corporate sustainability performance by applying the contingency roles of internal and external environmental orientation.

The growing relevance of environmental sustainability calls for identification of factors that contribute to green innovation and build green corporate reputation. Drawing on the resource-based view theory, this study aims to explore the influence of green logistics knowledge, green customer knowledge, green supplier knowledge, green competitor knowledge, non-supply chain learning on green innovation and green corporate reputation.

This study adopts the quantitative research method where questionnaire is used to gather data from managers of the sampled 208 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The structural equation modelling is used to analyse the survey data and test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings reveal that non-supply chain learning, green customer knowledge and green competitor knowledge have both direct and indirect impact on green innovation and green corporate reputation. However, green supplier knowledge and green logistics knowledge directly impact green innovation but indirectly impact green corporate reputation through green innovation.

Despite the growing literature exploring the relationship between learning, innovation and reputation, their literature in emerging economies remains underdeveloped. This study provides empirical evidence to confirm the role of non-supply chain learning and green supply chain knowledge in building green corporate reputation and developing green innovation of SMEs in an emerging economy.

Firms are adopting strategies to advance product quality and environmental sustainability to achieve improved profitability and shareholders’ wealth. The study investigates strategies that create a superior quality performance to competitors and improve both environmental and business performances. This paper explores the direct and indirect influence of lean management and environmental practices on relative competitive quality advantage, environmental performance and business performance.

The study uses a quantitative method where data is gathered from 259 manufacturing firms in Ghana. The data is gathered through customized questionnaires. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (SmartPLS 3.2.8) is used to analyze the data. Firm size, industry type and importance of environmental issues are used as control variables in this study.

The findings of the study indicate that both lean management and environmental practices create relative competitive quality advantage and improve environmental performance and business performance. Environmental performance and relative competitive quality advantage mediate the influence of lean management and environmental practices on business performance. The results further indicate that lean management creates a higher relative competitive quality advantage than environmental practices, while environmental practices have more potency to enhance environmental performance than lean management.

The study develops and proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework that examines the potency of environmental practices and lean management in creating a relative competitive quality advantage and improving environmental performance and business performance from a Ghanaian perspective, which is an emerging economy in Africa. Lean management and environmental practices may jointly help firms create relative competitive advantage and improve environmental performance to enhance business performance.

The desire for firms to gain competitive advantage and improve performance has resulted in the adoption of several practices. Green supply chain practices (GSCPs), just in time (JIT) and total quality management (TQM) are some of the practices adopted by firms to improve operational performance (OP) and business performance (BP). This study examines the direct influence of GSCPs, JIT and TQM on operational performance and BP. The study further analyzes the synergy of GSCPs, JIT and TQM on OP and BP.

This study employs the quantitative approach of research by using questionnaire to gather data from manufacturing managers and supply chain managers of 140 manufacturing firms in Ghana. The research uses partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) to analyze the survey data.

The results of the analysis show that GSCPs, TQM and JIT positively influence both OP and BP. The findings reveal that GSCPs combine with JIT and TQM to improve OP and BP significantly. However, the synergy between green supply chain and TQM creates more value for both OP and BP than the synergy between GSCPs and JIT.

The study proposes a research model that examines both the individual and combined influence of GSCPs, TQM and JIT on both OP and BP from the developing country perspective. The study models GSCPs as an antecedent of JIT and TQM, which has not been explored.

Significant unexplored research gaps exist in relation to assessing how governments influence innovations in the logistics and supply chains of SMEs to mitigate risks. This study emphasizes the impacts of regulatory coercion and government subsidization on logistics and supply chain innovations and the corresponding effect of logistics and supply chain innovations on financial performance, logistics and supply chain robustness, green competitiveness, social and environmental responsibilities.

Using a quantitative approach, partial least square structural equation modeling and a survey research design, data were collected and analyzed on 210 logistics and manufacturing firms.

The results support the fundamentals of the stakeholder theory and natural resources-based view (NRBV) regarding the positive impacts of regulatory coercion and government subsidization on logistics and supply chain innovations. Furthermore, logistics and supply chain innovations significantly influenced firm performance (financial performance, logistics and supply chain robustness and green competitiveness) and societal impact (social and environmental responsibilities). Particularly, while logistics and supply chain innovations had insignificant influence on social and environmental responsibilities, the effects of logistics and supply chain robustness were significant.

The study presents empirical findings on the impact of government influences on logistics and supply chain management and the corresponding implications for firms and society. Thus, this study contributes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and logistics and supply chain literature and provides guidance for policymakers, industry players, scholars and practitioners.

This study explores the role of external pressure, engagement capability (ENC), alliance capability (ACA), environmental sustainability commitment (ESC), and circular supply chain capability in circular economy performance.

Through a cross-sectional survey and data collected from 124 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, this study employs partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed model.

The findings reveal the following; first, external pressure has a significant impact on ESC. Second, ESC positively impacts ACA, ENC and circular supply chain capability. Third, ACA and ENC mediate the relationship between ESC and circular supply chain capability. Finally, circular supply chain capability has a significant impact on circular economy performance.

The originality of this study lies in testing a novel model that confirms that SMEs respond to external pressure by enhancing ESC as well as develop engagement and alliance capabilities to improve circular supply chain capability to achieve circular economy performance goals.